PT101.S4.P1.Q4

PrepTest 101 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 4

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P1

Wherever the crime novels of P. D. James are discussed by critics, there is a tendency on the one hand to exaggerate her merits and on the other to castigate her as a genre writer who is getting above herself. ███

Intro Topic · Disagreement over James' novels
Some exaggerate her merits; others castigate her as merely a genre writer
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Author's Comment · Perhaps disagreement arises from an unnecessary tension in fiction
P2

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Supporter · Elevate James' to high literature
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Critics · Find her pretentious and tiresome
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Example of Critics · Waugh and Oakes
P3

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Author as Supporter · Good writing; convincing characters; pleasurable descriptions
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Author as Critic · Distracting; thin plot devices; misplaced interests
P4

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Author's Explanation · James feels constrained by the crime-novel genre
Recommends that James move beyond it and into the mainstream novel.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Show answer
4.

The passage supports which one ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ████████

a

There are as ████ █████████ ███████████████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███████

Unsupported comparison. The passage author doesn’t suggest how many writers there are.

1%
b

Detective fiction has ████ █████████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████████ ████████

Unsupported. The passage author does suggest that detective fiction doesn’t necessarily have to be of low literary quality, but he never goes so far as to suggest that the genre is characterized by particularly high literary quality.

3%
c

Detective fiction has ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████████

Anti-supported. P1 and P2 focus on the attention critics have given to the detective fiction of P. D. James.

1%
d

There is very ██████ █████████ █████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ █ ███████ █████████ ██████

Unsupported. Different critics may appreciate or criticize different aspects of James’s writing (see P2), but that doesn’t mean they (or any other critics) disagree on what the basic elements of a detective novel actually are. It simply means that those critics value those basic elements to different degrees.

7%
e

Writers of detective ███████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████████████ █████ ███████

Strongly supported. Detective fiction tends to involve certain conventions or rules.

87%

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